Auction Results
Marion Maneker0May 16, 2012

Sotheby’s Geneva Jewels = $108.3m

Sotheby’s released figures for its Geneva sales of gems and jewelry. Less eye-catching in terms of price but possibly more important for understanding the direction of the jewelry market was the white-glove sale of items from the personal collection of Suzanne Belperron. Sixty of the designer’s own items made $3.45m, well above the pre-sale price tags:

Sotheby’s set a new world record of $108,377,219 for a various owner jewellery sale, with the conclusion of its two-day Magnificent Jewels and Noble Jewels Sale, surpassing the record set by Sotheby’s Geneva in November 2010 of $105 million. Over the two days 24 lots sold for over $1 million. The Beau Sancy, one of the most important royal diamonds to ever come to auction, sold for CHF 9,042,500 ($9,699,618). The result achieved by the celebrated jewel brought the total for the May Jewellery auctions to an outstanding total of CHF 104,298,625 ($111,836,526), almost doubling the pre-sale low estimate of CHF 54 -85 million

 

General
Marion Maneker0May 10, 2012

Sotheby’s Loses Head of Private Sales

Just when the auction houses have been emphasizing private sales as the futures of their business, Carol Vogel reports that Sotheby’s has just lost their head of private sales:

Stephane C. Connery, who has been one of Sotheby’s biggest rainmakers, significantly increasing the company profits as worldwide director of its private sales, has resigned. He plans to start dealing privately.

“I’ve always hoped to see if I could stand on my own two feet, and after 20 years at Sotheby’s, I think the time has finally come,” Mr. Connery said.

Inside Art: Resignation at Sotheby’s (New York Times)

Auction Results
Marion Maneker0May 10, 2012

Sotheby’s NY Cont Day = $63.9m

 

  • Alexander Calder’s standing mobile The Orange Table which has been in the same family collection for nearly 70 years. The 1943 piece sold for $2,546,500 – the highest price achieved for a work in a Contemporary Art Day sale at Sotheby’s since May 2008.
  • Gerhard Richter, whose Abstraktes Bild (595-3) from 1986 continued a series of strong prices for the artist when it sold for $2,098,500
  • Andy Warhol Jackie from 1964 beating the estimate to fetch $1,202,500
  • Andy Warhol, 1963 Ambulance Disaster also exceeding the estimate to sell for $962,500.
  • Takashi Murakami, Kanye Bear which comfortably exceeded the high estimate to sell for $1,202,500 
  • David Hockney’s Palm Reflected in Pool, Arizona which sold for $962,500, well over the $250/300,000 estimate.
  • Jean Dubuffet, Arabe gesticulante selling for 1,258,500, many multiples of the $50/70,000 estimate

 

Auction Results
Marion Maneker1May 09, 2012

Sotheby’s NY Cont Eve Sale = $266.6m

  1. Francis Bacon, Figure Writing Reflected in Mirror ($30-40m) $44.88m
  2. Lichtenstein, Sleeping Girl ($30-40m) $44.88m
  3. Warhol, Double Elvis ($30-50m) $37m
  4. Richter, Abstraktes Bild 768-2 ($8-10m) $16.88m 
  5. Lichtenstein, Sailboats III ($6-8m) $11.84m 
  6. J-M Basquiat, Ring ($4-6m) $7.64m 
  7. Alexander Calder, Sumac VI ($2.5-3.5m) $5.9m
  8. Richter, Abstraktes Bild 748-6 ($2.8-3.5m) $4.95m
  9. Cy Twombly, Roma ($2-3m) $3.44m  
  10. Fontana, Concetto Spaziale ($1.2-1.8m) $3.05m
  11. Calder, Red Tooth ($500-700k) $2.88m 
  12. Christopher Wool, Untitled (P70) ($600-800k) $2.04m 
  13. Robert Ryman, Duration ($1-1.5m) $1.65m
  14. Damien Hirst, Awakening ($1-1.5m) $1.65m 
  15. Yves Klein, Untitled Monogold ($700-900k) $1.538m
  16. Glenn Ligon, Black Like Me #1 ($600-800k) $1.3m
  17. Andrea Gursky, May Day V ($600-800k)$902,500 
  18. Anish Kapoor, Untitled ($500-700K) $902,500 
  19. Mark Bradford, GRRR ($450-650k) $866,500 
Auction Results
Marion Maneker0May 03, 2012

Sotheby’s NY IM Day Sale = $41.7m

  1. Picasso, Tete de Jeune Garcon ($800-1.2m) $2.7m
  2. Henri Martin, La Joie de Vivre ($600-800k) $1.7m
  3. Laszlo Moholy-Nagy ($300-400k) $1.3m
  4. Salvador Dalí, Nature Morte ($400-600k) $1m
  5. Barbara Hepworth, Three Squares and Circles ($180-250k) $962,500
  6. Henri Le Sidaner, Les Hortensias ($500-700k) $932,500
  7. Georges Braque, Nature Morte ($600-800k) $872,500
  8. Georges Braque, Nature Morte aux arums ($600-800k) $872,500
  9. Andre Breton, Chanson-Objet ($250-350k) $866,500
  10. Joan Miro, Painting ($180-250k) $722,500
  11. Gabriele Munter, Hof im Schnee ($250-350k) $578,500
  12. Renoir, Le Village de Cagnes Vu de la Terrase des Collettes ($300-400k) $590,500
  13. Alberto Giacometti, Rare Lampadaire ($120-180k) $530,500
  14. Alberto Giacometti, Lampadaire ($150-250k) $482,500
  15. Salvador Dali, Victory, A Song of Thanksgiving ($40-60k) $314,500
  16. Diego Giacometti, Tabouret En X ($70-90k) $266,500
  17. Max Ernst, Janus ($70-90k) $242,500
  18. Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Les Amants, 5eme Etat ($70-90k) $230,500
  19. Tsuguharu Foujita, Le Petit Chaperon Blanc ($100-150k) $206,500
  20. Lynn Chadwick, Maquette for Teddy Boy & Girl ($40-60k) $206,500
  21. Henry Moore, Draped Reclining Figure, Knee ($60-80k) $170,500
  22. Raymond Duchamp-Villon, Torse de Jeune Homme ($40-60k) $158,500
  23. Henri Lebasque, Vue de L’Esterel ($60-80k) $158,500
Auction Results
Marion Maneker1May 02, 2012

Sotheby’s NY IM Eve = $330.6m

  1. Edvard Munch, The Scream ($80m) $119.9m
  2. Picasso, Femme Assise dans un fauteuil ($20-30m) $29.2m
  3. Dalí, Printemps Necrophilique ($8-12m) $16.3m
  4. Joan Miro, Tete Humaine ($10-15m) $14.8m
  5. Constantin Brancusi, Promethe ($6-8m) $12.68m
  6. Gauguin, Cabane sous les arbes ($5-7m) $8.48m
  7. Max Ernst, Leonora in the Morning Light ($3-5m) $7.9m
  8. Picasso, Tete de Femme ($4-6m) $6.9m
  9. Leger, La Femme au Miroir ($2-3m) $4.1m
  10. Alfred Sisley, Un Noyer dans la Prairie de Thomery ($2.8-3.5m) $4m
  11. Joan Miro, Personnage Fascinnant ($2.5-3.5m) $3.78m
  12. Monet, Champ a Giverny ($1-1.5m) $2.66m
  13. Giacometti, Buste de Diego ($600-900k) $1.76m
  14. Jean Arp, Torse ($800-1.2m) $1.65m
  15. Magritte, La Vie Heureuse ($800-1.2m) $1.53m
  16. Magritte, La Voix du Sang ($600-800k) $1.3m

General
Marion Maneker1April 30, 2012

Ruprecht’s Reign

The Wall Street Journal gives Sotheby’s CEO Bill Ruprecht a victory lap this morning ahead of the anticipated success of The Scream. The story has a number of interesting tidbits though several hedged in odd ways:

  • Mr. Ruprecht says. “Europe today is a net seller of art as opposed to a net acquirer. Europe has moved very much to selling,” he says. In 2011 alone, Sotheby’s sourced roughly 50% of its world-wide business from European clients. Over the same period, Europeans accounted for about 30% of world-wide purchases.
  •  ”Last December, we had a $19 million online bid in one of our antiquity sales. In our wine sales, 40% to 50% of sales are being bought online. A third of our Web content is being consumed out of China. It’s amazing.”
  • Five years ago, Greater China represented 4% or 5% of Sotheby’s global commerce. Last year, that figure was closer to a third, Mr. Ruprecht says.

One odd bit of reasoning on the Journal’s part is counting the price-fixing-crisis-era move to sell Sotheby’s headquarters building in New York as a success for the firm even though it cost the company $200 million:

After Mr. Ruprecht took over, Sotheby’s slashed operating costs, reduced headcount and, in 2003, sold its Manhattan headquarters for $175 million. [...] At the height of the financial crisis, Sotheby’s saw year-to-year sales drops of more than 60%, Mr. Ruprecht says. Auction sales fell to $2.3 billion in 2009 from $4.9 billion the previous year. “That period was frightening,” he recalls. “[...] In the worst sales-deterioration periods we were able to stay cash-positive and profitable, which was remarkable,” he says. The firm weathered the storm and, as proof, bought back its Manhattan headquarters in 2008 for about $370 million.

Sotheby’s Eastern Advantage (Wall Street Journal)

Auction Results
Marion Maneker0April 28, 2012

Sotheby’s New York Prints = $9.99m

  1.  Jasper Johns, Target ($120-180k) $278,500
  2. Picasso, Grand Vase aux Danseurs ($120-180k) $230,500
  3. Edward Hopper, Girl on a Bridge ($60-80k) $194,500
  4. El Lissitzky, Beat the Whites with the Red Wedge ($70-100k) $182,500
  5. 11 Pop Artists Portfolio ($80-120k) $158,500
  6. Roy Lichtenstein, Bull Profile Series ($70-100k) $158,500
  7. Robert Rauschenberg, Breakthrough I ($60-80k) $104,500
  8. Barnett Newman, Untitled Etching #1 ($60-80k) $98,500
Auction Results
Marion Maneker0April 28, 2012

Sotheby’s Contemporary Turkish = £1.5m

Sotheby’s sale of Contemporary Turkish art in London had this star lot Nejad Melih Devrim’s Abstract Composition sell well above the initial estimates of £250-350k at £735,650. The rest of the sale made £1,531,175

Auction Results
Marion Maneker0April 20, 2012

Sotheby’s NY Jewels = $43.2m

Sotheby’s New York Jewels sale made $43.2m with 88% of the lots sold. Gary Shuler describes the highlights:

Both white and colored diamonds brought strong prices,

  • led by a Fancy Blue Diamond Ring, Tiffany & Co. that sold for an incredible total price of $2,434,500, reaching far above its high estimate of $500,000.
  • The 23 carat Fancy Vivid Yellow Diamond Ring, distinguished by its graceful cushion outline and its fantastic color, was sold for $1,874,500.
  • Sapphires and emeralds highlighted the results for colored stones: in addition to the beautiful Kashmir Sapphire and Diamond Ring mounted by Cartier that achieved $1,142,500, two Gold and Cabochon Emerald Rings, circa 1900, both from the same family collection, brought $632,500 and $692,500 respectively, well in excess of their $225,000 high estimates.
  • natural pearls surpassed pre-sale expectations to command exceptional prices, especially for the Cartier necklace formerly in the collection of Mrs. Georges Lurcy that sold for $1,314,500, nearly four times its high estimate.”
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